By a Foot

My mom almost missed out Cedar Point vacation. We’ve had it planned since last year but on the Friday before last, my last day of work before my week of vacation, I got to my mom’s house to drop the girls and she told me that she might have to take the girls home to Tom.

The night before my stepdad had fallen off a ladder and his foot was hurting him pretty badly. My mom was thinking she might need to take him to Urgent Care.

I called Tom on my way to work to warn him that the girls plus one (Jaxon was there too) might end up with him later that morning.

Before I left my mom’s house, she mentioned the possibility of Tom going to Cedar Point with me and the girls, as at that point she wasn’t sure if my stepdad would be able to be left alone. The mention of this to Tom on the phone made me realize that I’d rather take the girls myself than drag him along on a trip he didn’t want to take.

My mom called the VA hospital to ask their thoughts on my stepdad’s care. He’s a patient there for his diabetes and other health issues and they recommended she just take him to their hospital rather than waste time at Urgent Care.

X-rays confirmed that my stepdad had not just broken his foot, he’d managed to crush his heel. He’d fallen off the very top of a step ladder, about six feet and landed directly on his right foot. He was going to have to be seen by an orthopedic surgeon later the next week.

I resigned myself to the ‘vacation’ with the girls on my own. I actually even started getting excited about it. I figured we could do what we wanted, when we wanted and I didn’t have to worry about anyone but the three girls I’d have with me. See, I tend to feel judged a lot. I feel this way about everyone, my husband, my mom, even my friends. And I KNOW no one is judging me, I know this. But I feel it anyway.

So the idea of taking the three girls to Cedar Point by myself and not having the judged feeling was kind of awesome.

My mom and I talked several times over the weekend, discussing my stepdad and his foot and whether or not she was comfortable leaving him. I told her that it was absolutely fine if she didn’t go. I assured her that the girls and I would be fine. I told her that if it was causing her any guilt at all, to please not do that to herself.

In the end, my stepdad wanted her to go with us. There was nothing she could do for him at home other than wait on him and he discovered that knee pads work better than crutches or even a wheelchair for getting around.

Tom ended up going to see L several time while we were gone and everyone was glad for the time either alone or away.

But yeah, my mom almost missed our vacation by a foot.